Cotton-gin.



N5. 735,455. PATBNTED AUG. 4,-1903.

' J.BRANDON.

COTTON GIN.

V APPLICATION FILED AUG. 2, 1902.

NO MODEL` 4 SHEETS-SHBBT 1.

mgm Q PATENTED AUG'. 4, 1903'.

J.BRANpoN. COTTON GIN.

APPLICATION EIL-ED AUG. 2, 1902.

4 SHEBTSf-SHBET 2.

N0 MODEL,

No. 135.455. PATDNTED AUG. 4, 1903.

' `BRANDONl COTTON GIN.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 2, 1902.

No MODEL. 4 SHEETS-SHEET a.

www @www No. 735,455. PATENTBD AUG. 4, 190s.

n 4 LBRANDON. COTTON GIN.

f APPLIGATION FILED AUG. 2, 1902. lli() MODEL. 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

1H: Norms Pn'cns ou.. mow-nwo.. usb-Immos. D c,

No. temes.

Patented August 1, 1903.

`lfln'ri-:iwr OFFICE.

JAMES BRANDON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

COTTON-GIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 735,455, dated August4, 1903.

Application led August Z, 1902.

To a/ZZ whom t may oon/cern? `Be it known that I, JAMES BRANDON, acitizen of the United States, residing in the city of New York, countyand State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Cotton-Girls, of which the following is a specification sufcient toenable others skilled in the art to which the invention appertains tomake and use the same.

The object of my invention is to effectually open up seed-cotton beforepresenting it to` the ginning mechanism to get rid of sand and; be

" apparatus; Figs. 6, 7, S, andA 9, detail views,

upon an enlarged scale, of the forwarding mechanism. Figs. 10 and 1l arerespectively side and top views of the framework which supportstlieautomatic feed mechanism.

The feed box or hopper A is formed with a grating a, upon which theseed-cotton is deposited. Between the bars of this grate d project the iupper portions of the saws B, mounted upon the shaft b. Tongues a',formed on the wall a2 of the hopper A, project downward between thesaws, forming slots through which the seed-cotton is with- 'drawn fromthe hopper similar to the manner in which seed-cotton is treated in theolder forms of cotton-gins,with this exception, however, that whereas inthe old form of saw-gin the slots through which the saws protruded arenot wide enough to allow the cotton-seed to pass. ,In the present casethey are purposely made of sufficient width to allow the seeds in theboll` to pass freely`,'t he tongues co acting not as seed-eliminators,but simply to retard and open up the cotton bells as they are withfdrawnby the saws from the feed-box A. The seed-cotton is carried by the sawsB to the feed board i or table D, formedV with a series fof longitudinalslots d, through which project forwarding-fingers e e, which traveltoward Serial Nm 118.125. (No model.)

. the breast F and stripper-blades G H at a speed slightly greater thanthe peripheral speed of the saws B, so that the fingers e ein taking thecotton from the saws open up and attenuate the bolls still further. Thisresult is supplemented and augmented by the resistance afforded by thefrictional contact of the seed-cotton with the table D as it is drawnover by thefingers e e, which thus continues to open ont the fiber untilthe cotton reaches the breast and stripper-blades, the fingers e e beingsufficiently far apart to insure looseness and freedom of fiber.

The feed-fingers e e are attached rigidly to transverse rods E E,mounted upon and between parallel endless chains I I', passing oversprocket-wheels z' z" and idlers i2 i3. The sprocket-wheels 1I t" arerigidlysecured to a shaft J, mounted on a frame K, supported ,upon oneside member only, Z, of the main rame L of the apparatus, the idlers r2being also mounted (on studs 7c c) upon the 'said frame K. This frame Kconsists, essentially, of two cross-bars 7a2 las, secured rigidly to thearm 7a4, projecting fromv the side member Z of the main frame L, asabove stated, the object being to support the sprocketchains I I" srocket-wheels 'L' fi' and idlers 2 s in such manner as to admit of theuse of an auxiliary endless chain M, passing over the idlers m m',mounted respectively upon studs m2 m3 on the cross-bar m4, secured tothe bracket or extension m5 on the opposite side member Z of the mainframe L, as will be understood by reference more particularly to Figs.l0 and ll of the drawings.

The shaft J and sprocket-wheels i i are rotated by means of a gear j,secured to said shaft J and actuated through intermediate gearingjj2 bythe gear b upon the shaft b, carrying the pulley b2, to which thepower-belt b3 is applied, it being understood,.as` before intim ated,that the speed imparted to the endless belts I I and hence totherods E Eand iin gers e e is greater than the peripheralspeed of the saws B.

In order to avoid injury to the cotton fiber, I cause myforwarding-fingers e e to enter and ICC) leave the seed-cotton upon thetable at substantially right angles to the latter. i p

The rods E are mounted loosely in bearings e' e', attached to alternatelinks of the endless chains I I', so that said rods would be free toturn upon their longitudinal axes were they not otherwise held by thecontrolling-arms N, so that in reality the bearings e c may be said tobe free to turn upon the rods E. A cond trolling-arm N is rigidlyattached to each fin- M will hold the lingers e e in the same prescribedposition throughout their endless journey, preferably a positionsubstantially at right angles to the feed-table D, as shown in thedrawings. I have found by actual experiment that it is not necessary toapply power directly to the chain M or idlers m m, the frictionalresistance afforded to their vmovement by reasonof their pivotalconnection with the arms N being so slight as not lto interfere with orretard the action of the chain I and connections. In fact, the chain Mis designed to act simply as aparallel drag to maintain the said armsN,ngerrods E, and. forwarding-fingers e e constantly at a prescribedangle with relation to the feed-table D. As a result the said fingers ee. enter and leave the seed-cotton gently, without tearing, twisting, orsnarling the same. This feature is of especial importance at the end ofthe feed where the seed-cotton is delivered to the stripping mechanism,since the ingers'e e sink below the table and away from the cottonwithout straining, breaking, or tearing the same, as they wouldinevitably do were they to pass around the idlers in a radial position.As thus fed to the ginning or stripping mechanism the bolls ofseed-cotton are in the form of loose attenuated slivers, from which theseed can be readily extracted without injury to the cotton fiber.

My cotton-boll opening and feeding mechanism may obviously be employedin connection with various forms of stripping or ginning devices, and Ido not limit or restrict myself in this respect, although I herein show-and claim a specific form of stripping mechanism which is especiallyadapted for use in this connection. This seed-extracting mechanismconsists, essentially, of two stripperplates G H, sliding one over theother and supported in a suitable frame or breast F.

These plates G H are made to reciprocate simultaneously in oppositedirections through the medium of rods q q by means of eccentrics Q Q2 ona power-shaft Q.

arranged that their lower ends vibrate between the inner edge of thefeed-table D and the ginning-roller R and belt S, so that as the sliversare drawn by the ginning-roller They are soand belt from the feed-tableD the seeds are literally knocked down and out of the cotton fiber byblows delivered, substantially, at right angles to the line of feed.Thus the function of the vibrating plates is simply to extricate andeliminate the seed from the fiber, and they are not relied upon also toopen up and disintegrate the seed-cotton bolls, as heretofore. In fact,I am not aware of any other practicable automatic feed for seedcotton inwhich the cotton bolls are opened up and attenuated before presentationto the ginning mechanism. The seed-cotton is usually fed to the ginningdevice in a more or less matted compact mass, which has to be opened upand literally torn apart by the ginning mechanism before the latter canextract the seed, resulting in serious injury to the fiber and theclogging of the apparatus to such an extent that it has to be stoppedfrequently and cleared. In my apparatus clogging is practicallyimpossible, since the cotton bolls are opened up and combed out intocomparatively thin attenuated slivers in which the bers are elongatedand parallel to each other, the seed being loosened from the fiber tosuch an extent that it is wiped out by the" stripping mechanism withouttangling or straining the fiber. As a result a higher, more uniform, andvaluable grade of cotton is attained continuously and rapidly ascompared with the prior state of the art, the output being more thandoubled for a given size of apparatus. In thus opening up the cottonbolls and combing out the ber as a preliminary to subjecting theseed-cotton to the action of the stripping mechanism I also eliminatesand and other heavy material thatwould otherwise tend to injure the berduring the wiping out of the seed as well as impair its quality. Theopening up of the cotton bolls by the saws and intervening tongueswithout extracting the seed from the cotton as it passes from the hopperis an important feature in that it loosens the seed and prepares theseedcotton for the combing action of the forwarding-lingers, socontributing materially to the elimination of the seed without injury tothe cotton lint. v

By my method of opening up and attenuating the boll of cottonpreparatory to subjecting it to the action of the stripping mechanism Iavoid all danger of sparking or combustion by reason of the contact ofthe strippers with iiinty or metallic substances in the seed-cotton asheretofore treated, since iinty and other foreign substances areeliminated by gravity as the seed-cotton is opened up and drawn over thefeedtable by my improved automatic feed.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

l. In cotton-ginning apparatus, the combination of a receiving-hopper, aseries of saws arranged to remove the seed-cotton through slots in saidhopper and deposit it on a feedboard, said feed-board formed with aseries IOC IIO

i mechanism for carrying said forwarding-fingers and maintaining them inpositions parallel to each other and substantially at right angles tothe feed-board together with seedstripping mechanism arranged at the endof theV feed-board, substantially in the manner and for the purpose setforth.

2. In cotton-ginning apparatus, the combination of a receiving-hopperformed with a series of slots of greater width than the cottonseed, aseries of saws arranged to remove the seed-cotton through said slots anddeposit it on a feed-board, said feed-board formed-with a series oflongitudinal slots, a series of forwarding-iingers projecting throughsaid slots, and mechanism for carrying said forwardingfingers andmaintaining them in positions parallel to each other and substantiallyat right angles to the feed-board, together with seedstripping mechanismarranged at the end of the feed-board, substantially in the manner andfor the purpose set forth.

3. In a cotton-ginning apparatus,the combination of a receiving-hopper,a series of saws arranged to remove the seed-cotton through slots insaid hopper and deposit it on a feedboard, said feed-board formed with aseries of longitudinal slots, a series of feeding-fingers rigidlyattached to transverse bars, a forwarding-chain, said transverse barspivotally connected to said forwarding-chain, an auxiliary endlesschain, a series of controllingarms rigidly attached to said transverseiinger-carrying bars and pivotally connected to said auxiliary endlesschain, said auxiliary endless chain arranged parallel to but on a planelower than the aforesaid endless forwarding-chain, and means forsupporting said auxiliary endless chain in such manner that it mayrotate at the same rate of speed as the aforesaid endlessforwarding-chain, together with seed-stripping mechanism arranged at theend of the feed-board, substantially in the manner and for the purposeset forth.

4. In cotton-ginning apparatus, the combination of the receiving-hopperformed with a series of slots of greater width than the cottonseed, aseries of saws arranged to remove the seed-cotton through said slots anddeposit it upon a feed-board, said feed-board formed with a series oflongitudinal slots, a series of parallel feeding-fingers arranged toenter and recede from said slots at substantially right angles to thefeed-board, endless chain mechanism for supporting said fingers andimparting a speed to them greater than that-of the peripheral speed ofthe said saws, and seedstripping mechanism arranged at the end of thefeed-board, substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

5. In cotton-ginning apparatus, the combination of a receiving-hopper, aseries of saws arranged to remove the seed-cotton through slots in saidhopper and deposit it on a feedboard, said feed-board formed with aseries of longitudinal slots, and a series of forwarding-fingersprojecting through said slots and carried by mechanism which maintainssaid forwardingfingers in positions parallel to each other andsubstantially at right angles to the feed-board,together withseed-stripping mechanism, consisting of two reciprocating plates oneupon the other, their lower stripping ends being interposed between theend of the feed-board and the device for withdrawing the cottonsliver,together with said sliverremoving device, substantially as setforth.

JAMES BRANDON.

Witnesses:

D. W. GARDNER, F. E. RoAcH.

